HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

What’s new in digital media?   Subscribe to digitalhhr.com to receive updates of the latest news:

• One report says that ad spending on social networking sites will be lower than expected this year and will remain relatively flat in 2009.  Details from the WSJ are here. 
• The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has released a report entitled “Deception and Distrust:  The Federal Commmunications Commission under Chairman Kevin J. Martin.”  Some of the highlights of the criticism: lax oversight of telecommunciations companies and pushing for revisions to agency reports in a less-than-open fashion.  One caveat:  the report was prepared and released by the majority staff and is not necessarily a consensus view.  Here’s a link.
• Google has reached agreement to bring the magazine archive and current issues online as part of Google Book Search.  Titles involved in the project are a diverse bunch and include New York Magazine, Popular  Mechanics and Ebony.  The announcement was made via this post on Google’s official blog.
• The New York Times takes a look at licensing and other revenue opportunities that are being exploited in virtual worlds.  We’ll be looking at the legal impact that emerging technologies in the virtual space might have on licensing arrangements in the coming weeks.  Check back for the full post.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act celebrated its 10^th anniversary this week.  That milestone provides us with an excuse to take a brief look at the statute and some ways it has affected the digital marketplace.

The DMCA was initially intended as the US implementation of two treaties adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1996 to establish rules for two evolving forms of digital media: music and computer software and databases.  However, as the legislation was introduced in Congress, additional provisions were added in response to lobbying efforts by two distinct constituencies.  

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In my post dated August 26^th, 2008, I discussed the potential encroachment upon the established doctrine of fair use as it relates to evaluating, on a case-by-case basis, the digital use and publication of copyrighted works.  The recent news about the settlement agreement reached between Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers may just be adding more fuel to the proverbial fire in terms of turning the doctrine on its head.  Continue Reading »

We recently had an opportunity to explore and write about the current trends and challenges in Latin America’s expanding digital marketplace.  The article below appeared in Volume 7, Issue 8 of LATINLAWYER magazine, www.LATINLAWYER.com. 

    Winning the Digital Race